Pill counting device



Sept. 29,

E. W- CLASEN FILL COUNTING DEVICE Filed Dec. 24. 1962 L 32 74 sz 6e 627' /N NTom 50 E Dwn/an .CLASENI H/s ATTORNEY United States Patent O M3,150,785 PILL CUUNTING DEVICE Edward W. Clasen, 6500 Chippewa St., St.Louis, M0. Filed Dec. 24, 1962, Ser. No. 246,777 1 Ciairn. (Cl. 214-1)The present invention relates generally to counter devices adapted tofacilitate and expedite the segregation of a definite number of smallarticles from a mass of similar articles collected in a relatively largecontainer.

More particularly, the present invention relates to a novel device foruse by establishments that deal in pharmaceutical items such as pills,tablets and the like.

Such establishments purchase these products in bulk, and the instantinvention contemplates a simple device whereby desired specific numbersof such items can be segregated from the bulk containers for packagingand bottling without the necessity of handling and counting eachindividual item.

Accordingly, the primary object of the present invention is to providenovel means whereby a specific number of pills, tablets and the like maybe expeditiously segregated from a mass of them untouched by humanhands.

To this end the invention teaches, a device of simple construction thatincludes a tray member, a removable cover member therefor, and apartition bar adapted to control the number of items counted by thedevice as will appear. Thus, the device of the present invention iscomprised of but three components or elements.

Preferably but not necessairly, the three components are fabricated ofplastic material. With respect to the tray member and the partition bar,the material whereof these are fabricated may be opaque if desired, butit is considered essential that the cover member be fabricated oftransparent material.

The tray member is rectangular as viewed in plan, and includes a bottomwall or base portion surrounded by three coextensive upstanding walls,and a fourth upstanding wall that is less than coextensive whereby toprovide a discharge opening at one corner of the device when the covermember is in place.

Formed in the bottom wall or base portion of the tray member is aplurality of sockets that open upwardly, and are each adapted toreleasably capture a pill or tablet when the device is employed as willbe explained.

The cover member has an angular recess provided at one corner thereof,said recess forming in conjunction with the adjacent portions of two ofthe upstanding walls, an opening for entry into the tray of pills to becounted.

Complemental means are provided on two of the upstanding walls of thetray member and along two marginal edges of the cover member, wherebyproper placement of said cover member is facilitated and assured.

An exemplary embodiment of the invention is illustrated on a sheet ofdrawings that accompanies this speciication, and a more comprehensiveunderstanding of said invention may be had from the detailed descriptionthat follows with reference to said drawings, wherein:

FIGURE 1 is a top plan view of a medicinal tablet or pill countingdevice embodying the concepts of the present invention;

FIGURE 2 is a top plan view of the tray member of the invention with thetherewith associated cover member removed;

FIGURE 3 is a right side elevational view of the device illustrated inFIGURE 1; Y

FIGURE 4 is a transverse vertical sectional view taken along the line 44 of FIGURE l;

FIGURE 5 is a fragmentary longitudinal sectional view taken along theline 5 5 of FIGURE 1 and of FIG- URE 4;

3,l5@,735 Patented Sept. 29, 1964 FIGURE 6 is a fragmentary longitudinalsectional view on an enlarged scale, taken along the line 6 6 of FIG-URE 1;

FIGURE 7 is a transverse sectional view on an enlarged scale, takenalong the line 7 7 of FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 8 is an isometric view of the removable cover member per se;

FIGURE 9 is a top plan view of a partition bar provided with a pair oflongitudinally spaced dowels that depend from the bottom face thereof;

FIGURE 10 is a rear elevational view of said bar;

FIGURE l1 is a bottom plan view thereof;

FIGURE l2 is a fragmentary sectional view on a further enlarged scaleillustrating one of the sockets of the invention with a tablet or pillin captive position therein;

FIGURE 13 is a view similar to FIGURE 12, illustrating said socket witha tablet or pill of another configuration in captive position therein;

FIGURE 14 is a view similar to FIGURES l2 and 13, illustrating one ofthe dowels of the partition bar seated in said socket; and

FIGURE 15 is a view on a greatly reduced scale, illustrating the finalstep in the achievement of the objectives of the invention In the courseof the detailed description that follows with reference to the drawings,it is to be understood that the terms tablet and pill are considered tobe synon mous, and that the terms left, right, upper, lower and so on,refer to the various elements as they appear in the drawings.

The pill counting device of the present invention is preferablyrectanguiar and is designated as a whole by the numeral 2t). It includesa tray member generally designated 22, a cover member generallydesignated 24, and a partition bar generally designated 26.

The tray member 22 is comprised of a bottom Wall or base portion 28, afront wall Sil, a rear wall 32, a left side wall 34, and a right sidewall 36. As best seen in FIGURES 2 and 4, the rear and side walls of thetray are coextensive with the base portion 28. The front wall 36however, terminates leftwardly of the right side wall 36 to provide avertical edge designated 33. The left side wall 34 is provided with anintegral upwardly projecting elongated rectangular lug 40, and the rightside wall 36 is provided with an integral upwardly projecting furtherelongated rectangular lug 42, the said lugs being oppositely disposed,as shown.

In the preferred embodiment of the invention illustrated in thedrawings, the base portion 23 has formed therein a plurality of pillreceiving sockets that total one hundred. These sockets are designatedby the numerals 46, and as seen to best advantage in FIGURE 7, eachsocket 46 includes an arcuate cavity portion 48 that merges upwardlyinto an annular pill receptive opening 50. The peripheral wall deningeach opening 50 is vertically disposed for reasons to appear.

As sho-wn particularly in FIGURE 2, the hundred sockets 46 are disposedin a determined pattern comprised of ten longitudinal and ten transverserows. The left end longitudinal row of `sockets 46 is spaced inwardlyfrom the wall 354 a distan corresponding at least approximately with thediameter of one socket opening 5t). The right end longitudinal row ofsockets is spaced inwardly from the wall 36 a distance corresponding atleast approximately with the combined diameters of three socket openingsSii. The rearward end transverse row of sockets is spaced forwardly fromthe wall 32 a distance corresponding at least approximately with thecombined diameters of two socket openings Si). The forward endtransverse row of sockets is spaced rearwardly from the wall Sii adistance corresponding at least approximately with the combineddiameters of three socket openings 5t?.

The spacings described serve to facilitate operation of the device 20,`as will be more fully explained hereinafter. The areas described areidentilied in the drawings by the numerals 54, 56, 58, and 60.

The cover member 24 appears per se in FIGURE 8. As there seen, it iscomprised of a transparent plate 62 having a front marginal edge portion64, a rear marginal edge portion 66, a left side marginal edge portion68, and a right side marginal edge portion 70.

Formed in the left edge portion 68 is an elongated recess or notch '72that is adapted, when the cover member 24 is in place atop the tray 22,to embrace the lug 40. Formed in the right edge portion 7 d is a furtherelongated recess or notch 74 that is adapted, when the cover member 24is in place atop the tray 22, to embrace the lug 42.

The rear edge portion 66 of the cover member and the right edge portion70 thereof, are coextensive with the corresponding walls 32 and 36 ofthe tray. The front edge portion 64 and the left edge portion 68however, are not coextensive with the corresponding walls 30 and 34 ofthe tray. In other words and as shown, the upper left portion of theplate 62 is cut away to provide an angular recess defined by a secondaryforward marginal edge portion '76, and an intermediate edge portion '73.

Frein the foregoing, it should be apparent that when the cover member 24is in place atop the tr-ay member 22, what is termed a rectangularloading opening 80 will be defined by the corner section of the frontand left side walls 30 and 34 respectively, in conjunction with the cutaway edges 76 and 78. Furthermore, it should be apparent that adischarge opening 82 will be defined by the vertical edge 38 of thefront wall 30, and the thereto adjacent corner sections of the rightside wall 36, of the base member 28, and of the cover member plate 62(FIG- URES 4 and 5).

It is to be observed at this point in the description, that thedifference in length of the lug 40 relatively to that of the lug 42, andthe corresponding differences with respect to the complemental notches72 and 74, are provided in order to facilitate and assure theappropriate placement of the cover member.

The partition bar 26 is shown per se in FIGURES 9 through 11. Itconsists of a rectangular main body 84, and a pair of spaced dowels 86that depend from the lower face 88 of said body. Dimensionwise, thelength of the main body 84 of said bar is slightly less than thedistance obtaining between the inner faces of the tray side walls 34 and36. Cross-sectionalwise, said main body 84 is square, and when employedas suggested for example by broken lines in FIGURE 7, the upper surface83 thereof would lie in a plane slightly below the cover member 24. Thedepending dowels 86 are spaced in such fashion that when the partitionbar 26 is employed, they will seat in the pair of correspondingly spacedsocket 46 of any one of the transverse rows. In the embodiment of theinvention illustrated, the dowels are so spaced that they will seat inthe second and ninth sockets of the transverse rows, as shown by brokenlines in FIGURE 7.

It is noted that as viewed in top plan (FIGURE 9), the dowels 86 arelocated forwardly of the longitudinally centerline of the partition barmain body 34. Consequently when said bar is in a selected position assuggested by broken lines in FIGURE 2, the forward face 90 of its mainbody 84 would lie between adjacent transverse rows of sockets 46. It isalso to be noted with particular reference to FIGURES l and 6, that thesecondary forward edge portion 76 of the cover member 24 overlies theforward end transverse row of sockets 46.

In order to explain the time-saving and sanitary utility of the instantdevice, it will be assumed that the proprietor of -a pharmacy purchasespills in bulk, for example in lots of 50,000. The pills are sold atretail in boxes or bottles that are labeled to contain a certain numberof pills. Ordinarily, the label indicates that the container holdseither ten, twenty, or thirty pills, and so on, the maximum usuallybeing one hundred.

When the shipment is delivered to the pharmacy, it will furthermore beassumed that the proprietor from past sales experiences, decides topackage the bulk lot of pills as follows: 500 bottles each to containthirty pills; 300 bottles each to contain eighty pills; bottles each tocontain one hundred pills. Heretofore, such an operation had been atedious one, obviously requiring too much time, finger handling, and soon. Weighing has been tried, but has produced many complaints,particularly with respect to pills of the expensive variety.

In order to condition the device 20 for use in filling the thirty-pillbottles, the partition bar 26 would rst be positioned in the tray 22with the dowel pins 86 seated in the second and ninth sockets 46 of thefourth transverse row rearwardly `from the front wall St). This positionis suggested by broken lines in FIGURE 2, and indicated by the referencecharacter A. Thereupon, the cover member 24 would be positioned atop thewalls of the tr-ay 22 with the complemental lug ttl-notch 72, and lug42- notch 74 arrangements Iassuring proper positioning of said covermember t-o define the loading opening 80. It will be appreciated thatthe device 20 would thus be in condition for use over and over again asoften as desired.

Assuming now that the 50,000 pills repose in a suitable container, andthat an ordinary hand scoop is available, an undetermined quantity ofsaid pills would be scooped from the container and entered into thecounting device 20 via the opening 80, it being of course understoodthat said device would be resting on a level surface, such as a table orthe like.

Next, slight circular or side to side motion would be manually .appliedto the device. In consequence of such movements, thirty pills willautomatically seat themselves in the thirty exposed sockets 46, the area54 serving to insure the seating of one pill in each of the three leftend row sockets, the seated position of a pill P being particularlyillustrated on an enlarged scale in FIGURES 12 and 13.

Thereupon the left side of the device 20 would be lifted whereby to tiltthe tray slightly, and cause the noncaptured or excess pills to sliderightwardly into the area 56 along the right side wall 36. With thedevice 20 held in such tilted position, the surplus or excess 'pillswould then be returned to the bulk container via the discharge opening82. The provision of the annular pill receptive openings 50 thatconstitute the upper end portions of the sockets 46, play an importantrole during the tilting and excess pill discharge operations. In otherwords, inasmuch as the inner peripheries of the openings 50 are definedby vertical surfaces, captive pills P will not be dislodged, nor canthey escape from the sockets 46 during these operations.

The final step of the operation is schematically illustrated in FIGURE15. This step is comprised of rst tilting the device 20 from thehorizontal to a vertical position, and then slanting it downwardly atthe front into close proximity with the mouth of the bottle to befilled. In consequence of these manipulations of the device, the thirtytherefore captive pills will automatically gravitate from the socketsonto the area 56 and the right side wall 36, whence said pills will flowinto the bottle as suggested, via the discharge opening 82.

Assuming that the desired 500 thirty-pill bottles had been lled, thedevice 20 could be quickly conditioned for use in filling each of thedesired 300 eighty-pill bottles. Removal of the cover member 24,shifting the partition bar 26 from the position indicated at A to theposition thereof indicated at B in FIGURE 2, followed by replacement ofsaid cover member would be all that is required. Obviously of course,comparatively larger quantities of pills would be scooped from the bulkcontainer and fed into the device 20 via the loading opening 80.

Assuming now that the desired 300 eighty-pill bottles had been filled inaccordance with the previously described procedure, the device 20 couldbe quickly conditioned for use in filling each of the 110 bottles withone hundred pills. Removal of the cover member 24, removal of thepartition bar 26, followed by replacement of said cover member would bethe only steps required. The provision of the area 58 facilitates theautomatic capture of pills P by the sockets 46 of the transverse rowmost remote from the front wall 30 of the tray 22.

In the View of the foregoing description and especially in View of thecomprehensive drawings, it is believed that a more than adequatedisclosure of the instant invention has been presented. In other words,it is deemed apparent that in the process of filling twenty-pillcontainers, the partition bar 26 would be positioned one transversesocket row forwardly from the position thereof indicated at A. In theprocess of filling fifty-pill containers, the partition bar 26 would bepositioned two transverse socket rows rearwardly from the positionthereof indicated at A, and so on.

It is common knowledge that the pharmaceutical tablets and pillscurrently sold are not uniform from a diametrical standpoint. It istherefore to be understood that the present inventive conceptaccordingly contemplates larger or smaller socket embodiments than thoseexemplarily illustrated in the accompanying sheet of drawings.

What 1 claim is:

A pill counting device comprising in combination:

a rectangular tray member including a base portion, upstanding front,rear, and a pair of opposed left and right side walls, said rear andside walls being coextensive with the base portion, said front wallbeing less than coextensive therewith to terminate in a vertical edgeportion removed from the adjacent one of said side walls;

a plurality of sockets each adapted to receive one pill formed in theupper surface of the base portion, said sockets being formed in adetermined pattern comprised of ten longitudinal and ten transverserows, the total number of sockets being one hundred, each socketincluding an arcuate cavity portion that merges upwardly into avertically formed annular opening adapted to releasably retain a pillcaptive in said socket;

a first area of the upper surface of said tray member base portionprovided between the left side wall and the adjacent left endlongitudinal row of sockets, the extent of said area corresponding atleast approximately with the diameter of one of said sockets;

a second area of the upper surface of said tray member base positionprovided between the right side wall and the adjacent right endlongitudinal row of sockets, the extent of said area corresponding atleast approximately with the combined diameters of three ot' saidsockets;

a third area of the upper surface of said tray member base portionprovided between the rear wall and the adjacent rearward transverse rowof sockets, the extent of said area corresponding at least approximatelywith the combined diameters of two of said sockets;

a fourth area of the upper surface of said tray member base portionprovided between the forward wall and the adjacent forward transverserow of sockets, the extent of said area corresponding at leastapproximately with the combined diameters of three of said sockets;

a partition bar consisting of a rectangular main body and a pair ofdowels that depend from the lower face of said body, said dowels beinglocated forwardly of the longitudinal center-line of said main body, andbeing in determined longitudinally spaced relationship, whereby whensaid bar is positioned in the tray, said dowels are adapted to seat in apair of correspondingly spaced sockets of a selected transverse row ofsockets;

a removable transparent cover plate for the tray member;

means provided on the tray and complemental means provided on the coverplate whereby to facilitate proper placement of the plate atop saidtray, said means consisting of a iirst elongated rectangular lugprojecting upwardly from said left side wall, a second further elongatedrectangular lug projecting upwardly from said right side wall, a firstelongated notch formed in one side marginal edge portion of the coverplate and adapted to embrace said first lug, and a second furtherelongated notch formed in the opposite side marginal edge portion ofsaid plate and adapted to embrace the second lug aforesaid;

an angular recess formed in the left forward corner of the cover plate,said recess defining in conjunction with the adjacent corner portions ofthe front wall and the left side wall a loading opening for enteringinto the tray an undetermined quantity of pills; and

a pill discharge opening below the right forward corner of the coverplate, said opening being defined by the vertical edge portion aforesaidof the front wall, and the adjacent corner portions of the base andright side wall of said tray member.

References Cited in the tile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS2,536,127 De Philip Jan. 2, 1951 2,812,076 Mistretta Nov. 5, 19572,863,572 Bethard Dec. 9, 1958' ,2,899,097 Haskins v .v. Aug. 1l, 1959

